and I noticed a white spot, right on the knuckle that I could not explain. Trying to imagine what could be responsible for this little spot that was no bigger than the head of a pin, I asked my coworker what he thought it could be. No idea he said and assured me it was nothing.
All morning I tried to think what could be responsible. Figuring that if anyone knew, google would be able to help me them, I did a search for “skin pigmentation.” Pretty quickly I came across vitiligo as a possible explanation for my little spot. It was not a happy discovery. Reading about vitiligo while you suspect you have vitiligo was a strange experience. You learn quickly that vitiligo is not going to kill you. You learn that other than a lack of color, and a sign that you may be susceptible to other auto-immune disorders, there is nothing all that serious from a medical perspective. Or so the literature tells you.
You learn that there is no known cure and that there are a variety of treatments that are effective for some, and not for others. Basically you learn having vitiligo is not the end of the world and there is no end to having vitiligo. I counted myself lucky that I have not had to deal with seriously debilitating autoimmune disorders and dreaded the thought of watching my hands slowly develop more depigmented areas.
3 years after that day I no longer dread the spread of vitiligo. It is something that is happening slowly and I have come to to terms with that. For the past three years I have pursued several different courses of action towards my vitiligo and am now coming around to a new direction. This website will be about that new direction and my experiences from the past three years.
I would love to hear from anyone dealing with vitiligo, whether or not you have the disease or a family member. Found a great way of dealing with vitiligo? I would love to hear with that too! Leave a comment, follow me at twitter.com/ihavevitiligo or send me an email: keith@ihavevitiligo.com
hi my name is jessica and i have the same exact spots on myhands is yours painful
Hey Jessica,
Thanks for commenting here.
My spots don’t hurt much. Every once in a while it hurts when I get a sunburn but that does not happen too often for me.
How about you? Do your vitiligo spots hurt?
Hi Keith-
I was just diagnosed with vitiligo about 1 week ago. Like you, I noticed a perfect circle on the outside of my right thumb. In addition, I had seen a funny looking “stain” like spot on my chest about a month ago. My derm confirmed that it was vitiligo, after seeing spots under my arm and between my legs. I had never even noticed those before! About 2 yrs ago I was diagnosed with Hashimotos disease and understand that one can lead to another. I am still trying to digest all of this, do research and hope to find some “cure” for this. I am 47 yrs old and up until 2 yrs ago, I have lived a perfectly healthy life. Over the 2 years, I now have Vitiligo, thyroid disease, asthma and allergies and vitamin D deficient. There has to be some correlation, don’t you think? My first move is to change my diet. My sister, who lives in the Bay area as well, has been telling me to do this for years. I guess getting this diagnosis is going to finally get me to make those changes….any suggestions on how to start with altering my diet. It all seems so overwhelming….Any suggestions would be welcomed. This is an awesome website- thank you, Susan